Summer is in full swing in the R. house... just 5 days back from camping and we're gearing up for our second big summer thing. Tomorrow we're taking off for a week at my parents's cottage in the mountains, or, to anyone who lives near actual craggy, summit-in-the-cloud peaks~ tall hills. I guess, technically, they do qualify as mountains, but they're the little east coast kind that barely live up to their grandiose appellation. Beautiful, but not dramatic.
We're looking forward to a quiet, less-stress week, where the big events will be day camps for the kids (Sporty to horseback riding camp, and Posh to play camps), going to the pool and enjoying the unhindered time to do whatever the heck we want. This is something we really haven't ever done before. Whenever Chris is able to take time off from work, it's usually to go visit family up North or friends down South, or go places like Disney or family reunions. All of this R. together time should be a fascinating social experiment. Lucky for us, we'll be joined by my parental units towards the end of the week~ right about when we'll have all had just about enough of each other. Perfect timing.
It'll be a quiet week, here on the blog, as well... as there is limited internet access where we'll be... i.e. there's a 20 minute drive to the nearest open wireless network. I'll be on and off, but probably won't have a chance to post again until we get back. Just so you know. Hopefully the next time I post, I'll be so relaxed that I won't be able to type because of my jelly fingers. We shall see, I guess.
Later, gators!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
As promised, more pictures...
One of my nightmares of the trip was that I took over 400 pictures with the wrong setting on my camera. So all of the pictures came out too dark, too bright and/or too blue. I spent all of yesterday doctoring the pictures on the computer to fix them up. I seriously wanted to cry the whole time. There are some great shots, but some of them look downright funny, because the color or light is off. I can't stand it, and I deleted over half the total pictures I took. I don't want to talk about it anymore... but here are a few more of the survivors:
You Can't Really Call it Camping...
Once again we have survived a trip to the Great Outdoors. With the exception of a few skin cells from a few knees that got left behind in the woods, we are relatively intact. And the whole family had a fantastic time. For those of you who haven't been keeping up with all one of my previous posts that has dealt with this event... this was the trip we make every year with 10 other families from the neighborhood.
I'd like to say that we spend the weekend communing with nature, when we go on this annual foray out of the air conditioned environment we occupy on a daily basis. But we don't. For us, the trip is about communing with each other and our friends and moving the Block Party/Happy Hour to a new location for a few days. You could hardly call what we do roughing it. We more or less turn the campground into an outdoor house, complete with bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and living room (with a fireplace). If the "house" was closer to home, we could make a killing selling it on the real estate market.
Come see this idyllic and charming eleven bedroom home, with a large, open floor plan, fireplace in the living room, soaring ceilings, dining room that seats 50, and gourmet kitchen with 8 burner stove. Sorry, no running water, or central air, but the home is only a stone's throw from a lovely lake with sandy beach, not to mention the beautiful songbirds that will be your alarm clock each day. Side note: woodpeckers start looking for food EARLY. You will love the bucolic setting, with gorgeous 100 year old trees and nearby nature trails.
The kitchen always produces meals worthy of any gourmet kitchen... chili with spaghetti, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, fajitas with grilled veggies and all the fixin's... scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast. Food always tastes better when it's cooked outdoors over an open Coleman stove fire. Especially since cooking in the great outdoors seems to require larger amounts of testosterone, so it's mostly the men who do the work. Score! The beer and margaritas are freeflowing, and the children have 30 other kids for playmates. So they stay out of the way. And there are 20 other eyes, besides your own, keeping watch over the flock. Score again!
Saturday is Beach Day... and this year, we had a the perfect beach-going day. The temperature was only in the low 80's and there was a nice breeze, so sitting in the shade was really comfortable. The water was chilly, and all of the kids had blue lips, but they really couldn't have cared less. In 5 hours, they only came out of the lake to eat lunch and ice cream sandwiches under the umbrellas. You can always recognize our group from the line of closely-clustered Costco beach umbrellas that take up half the beach. And the beach carts. We've all got those too. Something like 90% of the stuff we have to cram into the car for this 48 hour trip is for the beach day.
We really couldn't have asked for a better weekend... except for the disgustingly trashy people that we had the misfortune to be parked near (a whole other story that would be completely inappropriate to post on this blog~ leave me a comment if you want to hear it). I'll make another post with more pictures, but here's one more of my tired girls on the way home... exhausted, but already looking forward to next year!
I'd like to say that we spend the weekend communing with nature, when we go on this annual foray out of the air conditioned environment we occupy on a daily basis. But we don't. For us, the trip is about communing with each other and our friends and moving the Block Party/Happy Hour to a new location for a few days. You could hardly call what we do roughing it. We more or less turn the campground into an outdoor house, complete with bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and living room (with a fireplace). If the "house" was closer to home, we could make a killing selling it on the real estate market.
Come see this idyllic and charming eleven bedroom home, with a large, open floor plan, fireplace in the living room, soaring ceilings, dining room that seats 50, and gourmet kitchen with 8 burner stove. Sorry, no running water, or central air, but the home is only a stone's throw from a lovely lake with sandy beach, not to mention the beautiful songbirds that will be your alarm clock each day. Side note: woodpeckers start looking for food EARLY. You will love the bucolic setting, with gorgeous 100 year old trees and nearby nature trails.
The kitchen always produces meals worthy of any gourmet kitchen... chili with spaghetti, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, fajitas with grilled veggies and all the fixin's... scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast. Food always tastes better when it's cooked outdoors over an open Coleman stove fire. Especially since cooking in the great outdoors seems to require larger amounts of testosterone, so it's mostly the men who do the work. Score! The beer and margaritas are freeflowing, and the children have 30 other kids for playmates. So they stay out of the way. And there are 20 other eyes, besides your own, keeping watch over the flock. Score again!
Saturday is Beach Day... and this year, we had a the perfect beach-going day. The temperature was only in the low 80's and there was a nice breeze, so sitting in the shade was really comfortable. The water was chilly, and all of the kids had blue lips, but they really couldn't have cared less. In 5 hours, they only came out of the lake to eat lunch and ice cream sandwiches under the umbrellas. You can always recognize our group from the line of closely-clustered Costco beach umbrellas that take up half the beach. And the beach carts. We've all got those too. Something like 90% of the stuff we have to cram into the car for this 48 hour trip is for the beach day.
We really couldn't have asked for a better weekend... except for the disgustingly trashy people that we had the misfortune to be parked near (a whole other story that would be completely inappropriate to post on this blog~ leave me a comment if you want to hear it). I'll make another post with more pictures, but here's one more of my tired girls on the way home... exhausted, but already looking forward to next year!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Planning for the Great Outdoors
I'm currently in the throes of pulling it together enough for the family to go camping this weekend. It's the annual neighborhood camping trip where eleven families take off on a long weekend adventure together and come back still being friends. That, in and of itself, is probably a minor miracle. This whole adventure is probably the best microcosm I can think of for a world where "we can all just get along". It's a hellacious amount of work, but always worth it in the end.
The adventure starts with a summit meeting about a week before the trip. The summit always involves a LOT of wine, grand gestures and ann/pro-nouncements, shouting, giggling and some serious negotiations. For example, the question of who brings the bagels and in what format is an issue of utmost importance. Or who's bringing steak and who's bringing chicken for the fajitas on Saturday night. Or whether the eggs should be cooked in bacon grease or not. The fact that the NSA or CIA or TSA or some other $%A is not involved in the resolution of these issues is remarkable. It just goes to show that warrior states can resolve their issues without bloodshed. Or at least without more than a minor flesh wound. And I'd go so far as to say that none of the members of this group are Switzerland.
Once the major issues of the summit are resolved, we all go our separate ways for a week or so, to prepare our families in our own way. For me, it's the perfect opportunity for my inner OCD to come out. I'm the one who makes a new Excel Spreadsheet every year to list the categories, packing receptacle and transportation position (in or on top of the car) of each and every item we're going to take with. Right down to the goggles, hand soap and camera batteries. This year, my spreadsheet is color-coded. And there are multiple sheets in the workbook. Food and Food Related Items, Gear, and Personal Use. I'm blushing a little while I'm typing this, but the truth is, I'm also a little proud of my spreadsheets. Do you think the R. family has ever left home without the one thing we need, but don't have? The camping trip motto is: Better to be looking at it than looking for it. Seriously.
That being said, we are really trying to pare down this year. Last year, when we packed up the minivan, there was barely enough room left for the children. In fact, they whined so much on the way up due to the squooshy conditions, that we sent Sporty back in a friend's car (which had more space). So this year, we are taking the bare minimum. At last count: 164 individual items. This is us taking less. It seriously actually takes us longer to pack it all then we spend at the bloody campsite. But our car couldn't possibly handle the burden of what we'd have to pack for a longer trip. We'd have to leave one or more of the carpet monkeys on the carpet at home.
Anyone who knows me has already realized where this is going. The following is being said in stage whisper: I don't like the great outdoors. There's a reason why this trip always happens on Father's Day weekend (other than the fact that it's when the trip always happens, due to reasons beyond my own control). In my case, it's because my hubby loves the great outdoors, and it's more or less the only time in the year that he gets to be out in it. Happy Father's Day, honey!
Now, don't get me wrong... the trip is always fun (even for Great-Indoorsy-and-Room-Servicy me). I love being with my family and friends... the (cheesball alert) camaraderie that is fostered on this trip is amazing. And we've never NOT had fun. But the part I love for my own selfish reasons is the planning. Not so much the packing, set-up or takedown. Happy Father's Day, again, honey. But I love the planning. I should join the UN. Lots of planning but not so much action. I wonder if they could use my spreadsheets to help with the next UN peacekeeping mission. Probably not. Oh well.
But I digress... I know I'm the one who can take the fun out of getting ready for any big event like this one. But at least we'll have everything we need while we're on the trip... and hopefully actually USE every single item we take with us. I know you can't plan for everything, but there's nothing to stop me from trying, right?
The adventure starts with a summit meeting about a week before the trip. The summit always involves a LOT of wine, grand gestures and ann/pro-nouncements, shouting, giggling and some serious negotiations. For example, the question of who brings the bagels and in what format is an issue of utmost importance. Or who's bringing steak and who's bringing chicken for the fajitas on Saturday night. Or whether the eggs should be cooked in bacon grease or not. The fact that the NSA or CIA or TSA or some other $%A is not involved in the resolution of these issues is remarkable. It just goes to show that warrior states can resolve their issues without bloodshed. Or at least without more than a minor flesh wound. And I'd go so far as to say that none of the members of this group are Switzerland.
Once the major issues of the summit are resolved, we all go our separate ways for a week or so, to prepare our families in our own way. For me, it's the perfect opportunity for my inner OCD to come out. I'm the one who makes a new Excel Spreadsheet every year to list the categories, packing receptacle and transportation position (in or on top of the car) of each and every item we're going to take with. Right down to the goggles, hand soap and camera batteries. This year, my spreadsheet is color-coded. And there are multiple sheets in the workbook. Food and Food Related Items, Gear, and Personal Use. I'm blushing a little while I'm typing this, but the truth is, I'm also a little proud of my spreadsheets. Do you think the R. family has ever left home without the one thing we need, but don't have? The camping trip motto is: Better to be looking at it than looking for it. Seriously.
That being said, we are really trying to pare down this year. Last year, when we packed up the minivan, there was barely enough room left for the children. In fact, they whined so much on the way up due to the squooshy conditions, that we sent Sporty back in a friend's car (which had more space). So this year, we are taking the bare minimum. At last count: 164 individual items. This is us taking less. It seriously actually takes us longer to pack it all then we spend at the bloody campsite. But our car couldn't possibly handle the burden of what we'd have to pack for a longer trip. We'd have to leave one or more of the carpet monkeys on the carpet at home.
Anyone who knows me has already realized where this is going. The following is being said in stage whisper: I don't like the great outdoors. There's a reason why this trip always happens on Father's Day weekend (other than the fact that it's when the trip always happens, due to reasons beyond my own control). In my case, it's because my hubby loves the great outdoors, and it's more or less the only time in the year that he gets to be out in it. Happy Father's Day, honey!
Now, don't get me wrong... the trip is always fun (even for Great-Indoorsy-and-Room-Servicy me). I love being with my family and friends... the (cheesball alert) camaraderie that is fostered on this trip is amazing. And we've never NOT had fun. But the part I love for my own selfish reasons is the planning. Not so much the packing, set-up or takedown. Happy Father's Day, again, honey. But I love the planning. I should join the UN. Lots of planning but not so much action. I wonder if they could use my spreadsheets to help with the next UN peacekeeping mission. Probably not. Oh well.
But I digress... I know I'm the one who can take the fun out of getting ready for any big event like this one. But at least we'll have everything we need while we're on the trip... and hopefully actually USE every single item we take with us. I know you can't plan for everything, but there's nothing to stop me from trying, right?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Borrowed Dog
We're not getting a dog. Let me just make that clear from the get-go. But we're not above borrowing one every so often... as long as they fit into the compact category and the circumstances are right. Meet our current borrowed pooch, Peque:
Peque is our friend's baby. She brought her for a visit from California to another friend's house. There was a problem with the household doggie politics over there, though, and I couldn't resist poor little Peque's charms. She's the sweetest little thing... just doesn't play well with other dogs. I guess she never went to kindergarten. She loves people, though and is an old hand at dealing with kids. She's great for me as well, because she sleeps in the middle of our bed and willingly takes the blame for stealing all the covers from my devoted spouse. She's endlessly entertaining for the girls, and has been taken for more "walks" in the last 24 hours than probably in her whole life put together. We'll really miss her when she has to go home... but for a few days at least, we can pretend to be a doggied family.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Long Time No See
It's been a long time since my last post... Sorry to all two of my devoted fans. It sounds so cliche, but the plain truth of the matter is that it's been crazy busy for the last 5 days or so. I know I don't have the monopoly on a busy life, but I beg your understanding anyway. The comedy that is MY life continues. And it's not going to get any better for the next few days at least, but in the interest of not going an entire week without a post, here I am.
Here are some highlights from the last week:
Wednesday, May 30th I attempted to volunteer in Sporty's second grade class. Attempted is the operative word, because I was forced to take Baby with me (due to an overwhelming dearth of babysitting availability), and she refused to sit still. So I spent 15 minutes chasing her around the 2nd and 3rd grade Pod while I was supposed to be listening to the children read to me, before I threw in the towel and asked the teacher to be excused. After that, I took Posh and Baby on the preschool field trip to our local farm park. We picnicked in the 87 degree sun and walked through the barns and finally went on an exceedingly sweaty wagon ride through the park:
Hot as Hades on the wagon ride. It was fun, but ay caramba!
On to: Thursday, May 31st: Happy Birthday Mom (my mom not me)! Relatively quiet, except for the mad cleaning burst getting ready for the arrival of Chris's parents for a long weekend visit... oh and an evening sit for a friend. I actually had a chance to get some reading in. YAY! So, I guess really only that part was quiet. The rest was a little desperate.
Friday, June 1st: Rabbits, rabbits rabbits! Drop off at school, pick up at school... visit, visit, visit (not complaining... this was very nice!)... desperate trip to the mall (notice the theme?) to find a bathing suit that actually fit, for a pool party on Saturday. I found one, but if I tell you what I had to pay for it, you'll die, so I won't. Fast forward to evening: Stamping meeting... very fun new project. Seriously it was just what I needed to re-motivate myself in my stamping doldrums. I've been so unmotivated to stamp anything... it ends up falling into the same category as this blog. Something I love to do, but always set on the back burner. Bummer.
Saturday, June 2nd: Woke up completely crabby. Sorry to all and sundry who had to put up with me for the day. Blush. I do reserve the right sometimes to be a crank, but I always feel like a heel afterwards. Stupid hormones. Anyway... part of the reason I was so crabby was because I had to drag all three kids to the soccer field by myself. Not so heinous, but I hardly ever have to do it, so I was sort of bummed about it. And it was hot again. Been there, done that, soaked a tshirt. And I felt guilty for not wanting to do it, because plenty of mommies do it all the time and really I'm very spoiled in that regard. But I still reserve the right to be crabby about it. The game went well. Sporty made a few good moves, and Posh and Baby ran around with all the other tag-along siblings. All in all it went pretty well... then the coach declared that he had seen not one but TWO ice cream passes (pass pass goal) and he promised to buy all the girls an ice cream. Very sweet of him... but that left bitchy me in a little pickle. No lunch yet... three whiny girls... and a sugar rush. Oh well. Off to the frozen custard place we went. We ended up milling around for about 15 minutes because the place wasn't opened yet. That good old desperation started to kick in a little again. Finally we got in there and everyone got their ice cream... except Her Highness, Baby Spice, who threw a fit when I tried to put the ice cream in her mouth. Oh well.
That afternoon we went to a very lovely pool party for Chris's sister's boyfriend's birthday. His parents had kindly agreed to host it at their home, where they have a beautiful pool.
We all had a great time... a few minor injuries aside. The last injury brought back our old friend Mr. Crank, but can you really blame me? Baby could have gotten a concussion. Enough said, as there was no concussion. But, I was very grateful for my nice soft bed that night, let me tell you.
Sunday, June 3rd:
Rain. And rain. And more rain. Probably just as well. We had a nice quiet day in the house, except that Sporty got to go to a birthday party for her friend from school. The whole day was nice, because it was so laaaaaaaazzzzzzyyy, and then in the evening, Chris and I got to (drumroll, please).... go to the movies. I almost feel like I have to whisper that phrase. It sounds like sacrilege to my ears. For a pair of people who used to go to the movies at least once a week, this once a year thing really sucks! Thank you, Chris's parents for taking charge of the girls for us while we saw POTC: At World's End. Very confusing sometimes, but extremely funny and ahhhh yes... the eye candy was worth the three hour tour (for both of us, I think). The ship wrecked a little at the end (SPOILER ALERT) when my eye candy had to walk into the sea for a 10 year tour aboard the Flying Dutchman. What a waste of pure male yumminess~ ferrying the dead to the Other Side. There better be a sequel. I'm (still) feeling a little verklempt about it. Waaaaaahhhhh.
So, now that you can see for yourself that I wasn't any busier than you (only whinier about it)... the saga-of-an-excuse as to why I have been MIA is done. Hopefully things will go better this week. Wink. Later alligator.
Here are some highlights from the last week:
Wednesday, May 30th I attempted to volunteer in Sporty's second grade class. Attempted is the operative word, because I was forced to take Baby with me (due to an overwhelming dearth of babysitting availability), and she refused to sit still. So I spent 15 minutes chasing her around the 2nd and 3rd grade Pod while I was supposed to be listening to the children read to me, before I threw in the towel and asked the teacher to be excused. After that, I took Posh and Baby on the preschool field trip to our local farm park. We picnicked in the 87 degree sun and walked through the barns and finally went on an exceedingly sweaty wagon ride through the park:
Hot as Hades on the wagon ride. It was fun, but ay caramba!
On to: Thursday, May 31st: Happy Birthday Mom (my mom not me)! Relatively quiet, except for the mad cleaning burst getting ready for the arrival of Chris's parents for a long weekend visit... oh and an evening sit for a friend. I actually had a chance to get some reading in. YAY! So, I guess really only that part was quiet. The rest was a little desperate.
Friday, June 1st: Rabbits, rabbits rabbits! Drop off at school, pick up at school... visit, visit, visit (not complaining... this was very nice!)... desperate trip to the mall (notice the theme?) to find a bathing suit that actually fit, for a pool party on Saturday. I found one, but if I tell you what I had to pay for it, you'll die, so I won't. Fast forward to evening: Stamping meeting... very fun new project. Seriously it was just what I needed to re-motivate myself in my stamping doldrums. I've been so unmotivated to stamp anything... it ends up falling into the same category as this blog. Something I love to do, but always set on the back burner. Bummer.
Saturday, June 2nd: Woke up completely crabby. Sorry to all and sundry who had to put up with me for the day. Blush. I do reserve the right sometimes to be a crank, but I always feel like a heel afterwards. Stupid hormones. Anyway... part of the reason I was so crabby was because I had to drag all three kids to the soccer field by myself. Not so heinous, but I hardly ever have to do it, so I was sort of bummed about it. And it was hot again. Been there, done that, soaked a tshirt. And I felt guilty for not wanting to do it, because plenty of mommies do it all the time and really I'm very spoiled in that regard. But I still reserve the right to be crabby about it. The game went well. Sporty made a few good moves, and Posh and Baby ran around with all the other tag-along siblings. All in all it went pretty well... then the coach declared that he had seen not one but TWO ice cream passes (pass pass goal) and he promised to buy all the girls an ice cream. Very sweet of him... but that left bitchy me in a little pickle. No lunch yet... three whiny girls... and a sugar rush. Oh well. Off to the frozen custard place we went. We ended up milling around for about 15 minutes because the place wasn't opened yet. That good old desperation started to kick in a little again. Finally we got in there and everyone got their ice cream... except Her Highness, Baby Spice, who threw a fit when I tried to put the ice cream in her mouth. Oh well.
That afternoon we went to a very lovely pool party for Chris's sister's boyfriend's birthday. His parents had kindly agreed to host it at their home, where they have a beautiful pool.
We all had a great time... a few minor injuries aside. The last injury brought back our old friend Mr. Crank, but can you really blame me? Baby could have gotten a concussion. Enough said, as there was no concussion. But, I was very grateful for my nice soft bed that night, let me tell you.
Sunday, June 3rd:
Rain. And rain. And more rain. Probably just as well. We had a nice quiet day in the house, except that Sporty got to go to a birthday party for her friend from school. The whole day was nice, because it was so laaaaaaaazzzzzzyyy, and then in the evening, Chris and I got to (drumroll, please).... go to the movies. I almost feel like I have to whisper that phrase. It sounds like sacrilege to my ears. For a pair of people who used to go to the movies at least once a week, this once a year thing really sucks! Thank you, Chris's parents for taking charge of the girls for us while we saw POTC: At World's End. Very confusing sometimes, but extremely funny and ahhhh yes... the eye candy was worth the three hour tour (for both of us, I think). The ship wrecked a little at the end (SPOILER ALERT) when my eye candy had to walk into the sea for a 10 year tour aboard the Flying Dutchman. What a waste of pure male yumminess~ ferrying the dead to the Other Side. There better be a sequel. I'm (still) feeling a little verklempt about it. Waaaaaahhhhh.
So, now that you can see for yourself that I wasn't any busier than you (only whinier about it)... the saga-of-an-excuse as to why I have been MIA is done. Hopefully things will go better this week. Wink. Later alligator.
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